Early Childhood Education in Houston

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted early childhood education in the region, prompting concerns about future academic readiness 

After experiencing years of steady growth, early childhood education enrollment in Houston’s three-county region fell during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The data

Pre-kindergarten moves to full-day as HB 3 is implemented, while enrollment declines sharply amid the pandemic

As it did for almost all aspects of life, COVID-19 disrupted early childhood education. In mid-March 2020, all public pre-kindergarten programs in Texas were physically closed and required to provide online instruction. The disruption continued into the 2020-21 school year with Texas public schools offering both in-person and virtual learning options.

While the pandemic affected pre-kindergarten students across the nation, in Texas it also delayed the opportunity to see the full impact of House Bill 3. Signed into law in 2019, HB3 requires all pre-K programs offered to eligible four-year-olds be full-day, and that the programs meet high-quality standards that were passed four years prior under House Bill 4 but were not fully funded. HB3 allocated more funds to support full-day pre-K through general funding and a new early education allotment. In addition, the law requires the expansion of early education reporting and the creation of early learning progress monitoring tools by the Texas Education Agency. HB3 is recognized as a significant step forward to ensure more children receive high-quality early education and have better academic performance by the third grade.

Texas school funding continues to lag the national average

Texas is one of 44 states that offers public funding for pre-K programs. With the passage of HB3 in 2019, the state expanded Texas school funding for early childhood education to include full-day pre-kindergarten across the state. According to the Texas Comptroller, the Early Education Allotment in House Bill 3 provided an estimated $835 million in additional state funding for early childhood education programs in the 2019-20 school year. However, Texas hasn’t officially reported spending on early education for the 2019-20 school year.

In 2018-19, the amount Texas spent per child enrolled in pre-K was 32% lower than the national average. It was also lower than what it spent nearly two decades earlier. Texas spent $3,631 per child during the 2018-19 school year — 25% less than what it spent in the 2001-02 school year ($4,840 inflation-adjusted). HB3 has likely curbed this downward trend, although time will tell to what extent.

Pre-K program offerings have grown in the region, and pre-K students are more likely to enroll in a full-day program as a result of HB 3 

Is pre-K free in Houston? Texas, like most states, does not offer universal early childhood education. Children are eligible for free pre-K programs if they are unable to speak and comprehend English, are economically disadvantaged, are experiencing homelessness, or are in foster care. Children from military families are also eligible for free pre-K programs. 

In Texas, pre-kindergarten operates differently by school district as well. Some districts operate their own pre-K programs, while other districts contract with facilities, such as local child care centers, to provide their pre-K programs.

The number of pre-K programs in the three-county area increased to 571 in 2019-20 from 555 in 2018-19. These 16 new programs followed the loss of seven programs between 2017-18 and 2018-19. In the past five years, the Houston area has had a net-gain of 21 pre-K programs, a 3.8% increase.

In 2019, Texas passed House Bill 3 (HB3) which primarily focused on school financing, but it also sought changes to the delivery of early education. While this new law did not change the requirements of whether a district must offer pre-K or who is eligible for pre-K funding, it did require that all prekindergarten programs offered to eligible four-year-olds must be full-day, and that the program meet the high-quality requirements adopted by the legislature four years prior under House Bill 4. This change was to take place in the following school year (2019-20). However, given the short notice, districts were able to apply for an exemption for these requirements for up to three years and renewable one time.

High-quality pre-K for the full day has added benefits over a shorter-day program, particularly for low-income children. Students from low-income families who attended a full-day pre-K program had higher scores on readiness assessments and better attendance.⁸ 

Fort Bend saw a dramatic increase in the share of its students enrolled in full-day prekindergarten as a result of HB3. In 2018-19, 19% of Fort Bend early education students attended full-day programs. In 2019-20, that number grew to 75%. Harris County school districts had a high share of students enrolled in full-time programs prior to HB3 but continued to make gains in 2019-20. In Montgomery County, some districts were already offering full-day programs before HB3, but not all were able to make the logistical changes necessary at the beginning of the 2019-20 academic year and requested an extension.

Texas meets four out of 10 pre-K quality standard benchmarks

The National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) assesses state preschools using a set of minimum quality standards benchmarks. Texas met four out of the 10 quality standard benchmarks: early learning and development standards; teacher’s minimum degree (which is not specifically an early childhood education degree, but any bachelor’s degree); teacher with specialized training; and screening & referral service. Some areas where Texas fell short include inadequate staff professional development and not having a statewide limit for class size or staff-child ratio (at the time, though this has recently been amended).

While only six state-funded pre-K programs in the U.S. met all 10 quality benchmarks, Texas lags in areas most programs do not. For example, Texas has no limit on either class size or student-teacher ratios, while 46 out of  62 state-funded pre-K programs in the U.S. have adopted a maximum class size of 20 or lower, and 50 have adopted student-teacher ratios of 10:1 or better.

Pre-kindergarten enrollment in the Houston area falls sharply amid the pandemic

Students who attend preschool can join a public program or a private program. About one-third of preschool children in Fort Bend attend public preschool, whereas nearly two-thirds in Harris County do, and about half of students in Montgomery County, according to 2019 American Community Survey data.

A study from the Houston Education Research Consortium (HERC) showed that while families considered many factors in deciding whether to enroll their children in pre-K, the distance of the program is among the most influential.

Pre-K enrollment in public schools in 2020-21 was at its lowest level in at least seven years. Pre-K enrollment in the three-county region numbered 37,606 in 2020-21 academic year: nearly 3,000 in Fort Bend, 42,574 in Harris, and just over 3,000 in Montgomery counties. Nearly 25,000 pre-K students were enrolled in Texas public schools the same year.

Pre-K enrollment in the 2020-21 school year fell in each of the three counties in the Houston area — as well as in the state overall — from the previous academic year. There were 37,600 pre-kindergarten students in the three-county area in 2020-21, a decline of 23% from 48,500 students in 2019-20. Texas pre-K enrollment fell from almost 250,000 students in 2019-20 to 197,000 students in 2020-21. This record-setting 21% decline was the result of many families opting out of public pre-K programs because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to the pandemic, Pre-K enrollment had steadily grown across the state.

Prior to the pandemic, pre-K enrollment in Fort Bend County grew the fastest in the region, increasing 19% between the 2018-19 and 2019-20 school years. However, enrollment fell 16% the following year amid the disruptions caused by COVID-19 in Houston. Pre-K enrollment also fell  by 24%  in Harris County and by 12% in Montgomery County between 2019-20 and 2020-21.

According to the State of Preschool 2020 released by the National Institute for Early Education Research, Texas ranks 13^th in pre-K access for three-year-olds and 10^th in pre-K access for four-year-olds among the 50 states. In the 2019-20 school year, 9% of three-year-olds and 47% of four-year-olds living in the state were enrolled in public pre-K programs. This is above the national rate of 6% of three-year-olds and 34% of four-year-olds.

Neither Fort Bend nor Montgomery counties offered pre-K programs for three-year-olds in 2018-19 or 2019-20, while 13% of the pre-K enrollment in Harris County in 2019-20 was for three-year-olds. The lack of programs is a lost opportunity, especially for students with special educational needs, English language learner students, and low-income families. A report on HISD schools by the Kinder Institute’s Houston Education Research Consortium (HERC) found that “students who received two years of pre-K education had a greater likelihood of school readiness than those who only got one.”

One way to measure if early education is reaching the intended population is to compare the number of first-grade students who would have been identified as eligible to attend pre-K with the number of students who actually attended pre-K two school years prior. For example, first graders in 2019-20 would have attended pre-K as four-year-olds in 2017-18.

Using the 2019-20 first-grade student data to determine pre-K eligibility, 75% of eligible four-year-olds in Harris County were enrolled in a public pre-K program in 2017-18. In Montgomery County, 65% of eligible students attended pre-K in 2017-18, and in Fort Bend that number was 53%.

Nine out of 10 pre-kindergarten students in Houston’s three-county region are classified as economically disadvantaged

Because of eligibility requirements, almost all public pre-kindergarten students at public schools are economically disadvantaged. In the 2019-20 school year, 87% of students enrolled in Texas and 90% of students enrolled in the three-county area public pre-K programs were classified as economically disadvantaged. Additionally, 49% of 3-county area enrollees were English language learners, and 3% were served by special education programs.

Harris County has the highest concentration of economically-disadvantaged pre-K students, consistent with economic trends in the region. In general, Fort Bend County has fewer students who were economically disadvantaged while Montgomery County has fewer students who were English learners. 

Across Texas, the majority (63%) of children enrolled in free pre-K programs are Hispanic. Black and white children are enrolled equally at 15%, while 4% of students are Asian American and 2% identified as other races.

A similar pattern exists regionally, but with considerable variations across counties, reflecting their respective racial/ethnic compositions. Given the extent to which race/ethnicity correlates with income and that pre-K programs are targeted to reach economically disadvantaged students, in 2020-21 in the three-county area, 63% of students are Hispanic, 20% are Black, 8% are white, 6% are Asian American, and 2% are multiracial children. As expected, Montgomery County has a significantly higher share of white children enrolled in pre-K (25%), and Fort Bend County sees a much higher percentage of Asian students (21%).

Third-grade students who were eligible for and attended pre-K scored higher on standardized tests than their counterparts

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) states that the goal of early childhood education “is for all Texas children to enter school with the foundational knowledge and skills to be curious, confident and successful learners.”

Pre-kindergartners who were four years old as of September 1 are assessed at the beginning of year and/or the end of year. Among 140,304 Texas students who were assessed at the beginning and again at the end of the school year in 2018-19, students saw growth in all but one category — the proficiency rate for health and wellness, which fell 6 percentage points during the school year. Emergent literacy levels in reading improved the most (up 44 percentage points). 

A 2017 study examined the effectiveness of Houston ISD’s pre-K program on preparing students for kindergarten. It showed that about one-third of students who were enrolled in kindergarten in 2014–15 and 2015–16 were not enrolled in an HISD pre-K program in the previous year, whereas the majority (59%) had enrolled in one year of pre-K and about 7% had enrolled in two years of pre-K prior to entering kindergarten. 

Across all students, the analysis found that only about 35% of HISD kindergarten students who took the English assessment and just over half (53%) who took the Spanish assessment were performing at grade level upon entering kindergarten. For those who attended an HISD pre-K program, students who took the Spanish assessment showed the greatest readiness levels — with nearly 60% of students with one year of pre-K attaining kindergarten readiness, compared to about 30% of students who did not attend pre-K.

This data indicates that it is important to understand which students are being assessed and how. In addition, it would be useful to disaggregate kindergarten-readiness rates by student characteristics to gain a better understanding of whether pre-K programs are helping the most vulnerable students prepare for kindergarten.

The TEA’s stated focus on foundational knowledge could be working. Five years of consecutive data show that students who were eligible for and attended pre-K scored significantly higher on reading standardized tests taken in the third grade than students who were eligible for but did not attend pre-K. However, both groups still lagged the proficiency rates among the general third grade population, reflecting early academic achievement gaps that tend to persist and widen over time between economically disadvantaged students and their counterparts.

While the TEA and many other groups focus on the role of pre-kindergarten in future academic success, a growing body of research has shown that other significant benefits may actually be found in long-term, non-test score outcomes.

For example, a 2021 study from the Nation Bureau of Economic Research found that “students randomly assigned to attend a Boston preschool experience fewer disciplinary incidents in high school, take the SAT and graduate high school at higher rates, and are more likely to enroll in college.”⁹ Other studies show that the benefits last beyond school years and even suggest the monetary value of these benefits greatly outweighs the costs of early childhood education programs.^{10, 11}

In Texas, the long-term benefit of pre-kindergarten can be seen in the high school graduation rate. For the 2017-18 academic year, the TEA released high school graduation and dropout rates by public pre-kindergarten attendance. The report included five academic years and showed that for all five years students who were eligible and attended pre-K had higher graduation rates than the general population of 12^th graders and it was significantly higher than those students who were eligible for prekindergarten but did not attend. For example in the 2017-18 school year, the Texas high school graduation rate was 91.8% for all 12^th graders but 92.7% for 12^th graders who were eligible for pre-K and attended pre-K. Meanwhile, the graduation rate was 88.3% for 12th graders who were eligible for pre-K but did not attend. 

Kindergarten enrollment in the Houston area dips amid the pandemic, with serious implications for first-grade readiness

In Texas, children who are five years old on or before September 1 are eligible, but not required, to attend kindergarten that year. A public school kindergarten in the state may be operated on a half-day or a full-day basis at the decision of the district’s school board. Texas mandates a maximum class size of 22 students for kindergarten through fourth grade (in September 2021, the Texas Legislature expanded that to pre-K beginning with the 2021-22 academic year). However, that does not always happen in practice, as districts may apply for waivers from that rule. 

Just as pre-K has been shown to have benefits to the child, so has kindergarten. Students who attend high-quality kindergarten enjoy a variety of academic and social-emotional boosts. According to established research, “the years from birth to age 5 are viewed as a critical period for developing the foundations for thinking, behaving, and emotional well-being.”¹² Furthermore, providing high-quality education prior to students starting the first grade has substantial medium- and long-term benefits. Students are less likely to repeat a grade and more prepared academically as they get older.¹³

In Texas, kindergarten enrollment fell from 384,000 in 2019-20 to 361,000 in 2020-21. This represents an almost 6% decline. Optional kindergarten attendance may have been one of the factors that led parents not to enroll their children in the 2020-21 school year because of COVID-19.

Kindergarten enrollment in the three-county area fell 6.8% in 2020-21 compared to 2019-20. Nearly 72,700 students were enrolled in kindergarten in 2020-21, the first full academic year disrupted by the pandemic. Kindergarten enrollment in public schools fell 6.5% in Fort Bend, 6.9% in Harris and 6.4% in Montgomery counties. While these rates of decline are smaller compared to those of pre-kindergarten enrollment, the ramifications of this learning loss may be especially significant for low-income students as they start first grade the following year without the foundational knowledge gained from attending kindergarten.

Kindergarten students in the Houston area come from diverse backgrounds

In the 2019-20 school year, of the 77,911 kindergarteners enrolled in Harris, Fort Bend and Montgomery counties’ public schools, more than 60% were considered economically disadvantaged, with Harris County’s rates the highest of the three-county average. One-third of students enrolled in the three-county region were classified as English language learners (ELLs) and 7% were provided with special education services. Fort Bend and Montgomery counties have a lower percentage of students who are economically disadvantaged and a lower percentage of students who are ELLs.

In the 2020-21 school year, the majority (53%) of kindergarteners in Texas public schools were Hispanic, followed by white students (26%).

Across the three-county area, 52% of kindergarteners enrolled were Hispanic, 20% were white, and 17% were Black. Fort Bend County has a higher percentage of Asian-American kindergarteners enrolled in public schools in the 2020-21 school year, while almost half of the kindergarteners enrolled in Montgomery County public schools were white. Harris County has the highest percentage of Hispanic kindergarteners in the region at 56%.

Kindergarten readiness rates rise in Fort Bend and Montgomery, but dip in Harris County

Some kindergartners enrolled in the Texas public school system are assessed on the Commissioner’s List of Reading Instruments, an inventory of the skills necessary for continued literacy development.

Kindergarten readiness assessment rates have historically been highest in Fort Bend County (96% in 2019-20) and Harris County (90% in 2019-20). However, not only are assessment rates in Montgomery County the lowest in the three-county region (31% in 2019-20), but also they have declined over the last three years while those in Fort Bend and Harris counties have risen. Among all kindergartners enrolled in the Texas public school system, 324,717, or 85%, were assessed.

Students must pass all required assessment domains to be considered kindergarten-ready. More than half (53%) of students who took a kindergarten readiness assessment at the beginning of the year met or exceeded the cut-off score across Texas. Overall, the percentage of students attaining kindergarten readiness in the three-county area dipped to 46.5% in 2019-20 from 47.7% in 2018-19.

There are sharp differences between the share of children assessed and the percent of students showing readiness both within and among the three counties. Among the 55,712 kindergartners who took the kindergarten readiness assessments in Harris County, only 45% met the necessary standard in 2019-20. Between 2017-18 and 2018-19 school years, progress was made in Fort Bend and Harris counties in terms of the percent of children assessed. In addition, between 2017-18 and 2019-20, Fort Bend County saw an increase of 25 percentage points in the rate of kindergarten readiness, while Harris County saw a small decline from 47% to 45%. While over half of the children assessed in Montgomery County were deemed kindergarten ready, less than one-third of eligible students were assessed, lower than any other county in the region.

Read about educational attainment, academic outcomes, and post-secondary education in Houston

Helpful Articles by Understanding Houston:

• Guest Blog: Ending the Inertia of Student Mobility in Houston
• COVID-19’s Ongoing Effect on Students in Greater Houston
• A Path Forward: How Arts Education Helps Student Learning and Well-Being
• Caring for Teachers is Caring for Students: Teacher’s Mental Health
• Using Science and Evidence To Drive Investments in Early Childhood

Funding, Enrollment & Teachers

A thriving public school system requires sufficient funding, robust student enrollment and effective teachers

The COVID-19 pandemic upended student enrollment and had a significant effect on teachers just as HB3 increased funding to public schools. 

The data

School funding is on the rise, but per pupil spending in Houston’s three-county area lags that of the state

How does school funding affect students? Funding is critical for student success. Recent research has shown high school graduation rates increase by about seven percentage points for all students — and roughly 10 percentage points for students from low-income families — for every 10% increase in per-pupil spending.⁶

In 2019, the U.S. spent around $13,187 per pupil (costs associated with instruction, student support services, and payroll for public pre-K-12 schools), according to the Census’ Annual Survey of School System Finances.

Where does Texas rank in school funding per child? According to the Census Bureau, average per pupil spending in Texas is well below the national average at $9,827.⁷ Compared to the other 50 states and District of Columbia, Texas ranks 44th on this measure.

Recognizing this critical lag, in 2019, Texas signed into law House Bill 3 (HB3), a school finance bill with four major policy goals: (1) supporting teachers and rewarding teacher excellence; (2) improving student outcomes; (3) increasing funding and improving equity; and (4) reducing and reforming property taxes and recapture.

Total operating expenditures per student⁸ in Texas increased nearly $400 (inflation-adjusted) within one year of HB3 becoming law, to $10,406 in 2019-20 from $10,036 in 2018-19 in 2020 inflation-adjusted dollars, according to the Texas Education Agency (TEA).

Per pupil school spending in Greater Houston public schools has historically lagged the state average. Expenditure data for 2019-20 was not available at the county level at the time of publication, but in 2018-19, public schools spent $9,808 per pupil in Harris County, $9,721 in Fort Bend County, and $9,259 in Montgomery County — lower than the state average that year by 2.3%, 3.1%, and 7.7%, respectively.

Changes to Texas’ state funding formula and recapture brought about by HB3 means per pupil spending in most districts should increase, though it’s not yet clear if the region will catch up to the state average.

COVID-19 relief funds for schools

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government passed a series of bills to help the country recover from the pandemic, with specific provisions for schools and students. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSA Act), and American Rescue Plan (ARP) all included billions of dollars to stabilize education budgets amid losses in state revenue.

In order to receive the full amount, each state was required to submit plans detailing how they will use the funds. Texas plans to use its dollars to address lost instructional time and support student mental health needs. These COVID-recovery dollars were given to the Texas Education Agency, the state’s department of education, with the requirement that at least 90% of funds go directly to local school districts. School districts must use at least 20% of the money they receive to directly address learning loss.

Student enrollment in the region falls because of the pandemic

Enrollment refers to the number of students enrolled in public schools (including charters) from early childhood education (pre-K) through 12th grade as of the last Friday in October.

Enrollment in Texas public schools reached nearly 5.4 million students in the 2020-21 school year, an increase of 1.3 million students, or 34%, since 1999-2000, but still a decline from the previous year. Overall public school enrollment in Texas fell 2.2% between the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years — the first decline in the state since 1987-88, when the Texas Education Agency began collecting data in its current system, PEIMS — an effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.⁹

Across the three-county area, 1,112,225 students were enrolled in public schools for the 2020-21 academic year. While this represents a 1.4% increase since 2014-15, it’s a decline of 2.6% from the previous year. Enrollment in Harris County fell 3.3% from the previous year, but Fort Bend and Montgomery counties did not see significant changes. Even excluding the 24% decline in pre-K enrollment, the number of students enrolled in kindergarten through 12th grade in Harris County fell by 2.2%.

Enrollment by race/ethnicity

Public schools in Texas and in Houston’s three-county region serve a diverse population of students — the majority of whom identify as Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color (BIPOC), consistent with the racial/ethnic composition of Greater Houston’s population.

In the 2020-21 school year in Texas, Hispanic students accounted for the largest group of total enrollment (52.9%), followed by white (26.5%), Black (12.7%), Asian-American (4.7%), and multiracial (2.7%) students. Among the three local counties, Montgomery has the highest percentage of students who are white (48.1%), and Fort Bend has the highest share of Asian American students (19.4%). This reflects the demographic composition of these counties.

Enrollment by Socioeconomic Status

School districts are required to collect and report the socioeconomic status of each student to the Texas Education Agency for purposes of the annual state accountability ratings and for federal reporting. A student who is eligible for free or reduced-price lunch or for other public assistance is classified as “economically disadvantaged.”

In 2020-21, the majority (60%) of students enrolled in Texas public schools were classified as economically disadvantaged. Despite an overall decline in total student enrollment from the previous school year, this figure remained flat. While the share of economically disadvantaged students has grown throughout the three-county area, it remains highest in Harris County, where 67% of students are classified as economically disadvantaged, higher than the state average.

English Learners

Students whose primary language is not English and who are in the process of acquiring English are classified as English learners (ELs) or as Limited English Proficient (LEP). ELs are a diverse group of students with varying levels of English proficiency. Students classified as ELs are eligible to participate in language assistance programs that help them attain English proficiency and support core academic programs. Research has shown that participation in enhanced language programs not only helps to improve students’ English language skills, but also helps to improve educational outcomes.¹⁰

The proportion of students classified as EL has remained relatively flat in Fort Bend County and has increased slightly in Harris and Montgomery counties since 2014-15. However, the number of EL students has grown significantly since then. Between 2014-15 and 2020-21, the number of EL students increased 22% in Fort Bend County (19,643 in 2020-21); 9% in Harris County (235,528); 43% in Montgomery County (20,170); and 17% in Texas overall (1,108,827).

Many students who begin school as English learners reclassify as English proficient in a timely manner and go on to achieve academic success.¹¹ However, students who remain EL for more than five years, known as long-term English learners (LTELs), tend to experience negative outcomes such as lower test scores, higher risk of dropping out, and lower on-time high school graduation rates.¹²

According to a 2021 study from the Kinder Institute’s Houston Education Research Consortium, not only are there more LTELs in Texas, EL students are more likely to be LTEL now than in the 2000-01 academic year.¹³ This report found two-thirds of students who began first grade in 2014-15 as an English learner in Texas public schools did not reclassify within five years compared to one-third in 2000-01. EL student outcomes in Greater Houston public schools tend to be better than that of the state average, with about 55% of students reclassifying within five years in 2014-15. However, that still means nearly half of EL first-graders in the region had not reclassified in that timeframe.

Special Education

Building off decades-old requirements around educating and supporting special education students, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), reauthorized in 2004 and amended in 2015, makes available a free appropriate public education to eligible children with disabilities throughout the nation and requires states to provide special education and related services to those children.

However, students with disabilities in Texas have not been receiving the services, therapies, and education they require because of a 2004 policy set by the Texas Education Agency that capped the statewide percentage of students who could receive special education services at 8.5%. This policy, uncovered by a Houston Chronicle investigation in 2016, was banned in 2017 by state lawmakers. 

Then in 2018, the U.S. Department of Education found Texas had violated federal law by setting this cap. This report, an important piece of federal oversight, found that Texas was illegally withholding services from students who were eligible for them and should have been receiving them. This meant that several years of cohorts of students were denied the full educational opportunity to which they are entitled. As part of this report, federal administrators ordered Texas to create a plan to correct the problem, starting with identifying children who had been excluded and making up for their missed services. But a follow-up investigation with the Houston Chronicle and Houston Public Media found that the effects of the cap linger, and children continue to be shut out of their right to special education. In August 2021, the Department of Education found that the Texas Education Agency had failed to implement the necessary changes to comply with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

Learn more about this important issue by exploring the Houston Chronicle investigation here.

Recent data from the Texas Education Agency show the percentage of students served in special education programs has increased since the Houston Chronicle investigation came out in 2016, but remains lower than national averages. In 2020-21, the percentage of students enrolled in special education programs was 11.7% in Fort Bend County, 10.0% in Harris County, 9.8% in Montgomery County, and 11.3% in Texas overall. While national 2020-21 data is not yet available, in 2019-20 the national rate was 14.4%, according to the 2020 Digest of Education Statistics.

Between 2014-15 and 2020-21, the number of students in special education programs increased 88% in Fort Bend County (14,037 in 2020-21); 27% in Harris County (87,558); 41% in Montgomery County (11,306); and 34% in Texas overall (605,043).

Teacher experience in Harris County lags the state, which lags the country

Established research has shown that teachers are the No. 1 predictor of student success inside the classroom.¹⁴ They are critical and foundational to delivering a high-quality education. Students who have consistent access to excellent teachers have better academic outcomes, are more likely to succeed in future academic work, are more likely to graduate from high school,¹⁵ and are more likely to enroll in higher education.¹⁶

Teacher Experience

Similar to professionals in other occupations, as teachers gain experience, they become more effective. As teachers have time to master their craft, their students show academic gains. These gains are more pronounced in the first decade of teaching, but extend through the second and third decade as well, and their students also have better attendance and score higher on standardized tests (one measure of learning).¹⁷

In Texas, students with teachers who have at least 4 to 5 years of experience are more likely to meet grade-level standards in STAAR tests than students with less experienced teachers, as shown in the chart above for third and eighth grade.

Public school teachers in Texas had an average of 11.2 years of teaching experience in 2020-21. This is below the national average for public school teachers of 13.8 years in 2017-18 (most recent data available).

Across the state, average teacher experience has increased slightly from 10.9 in 2017 to 11.2 in 2021. While the average years of teaching experience in Harris County remains below the state average, it has increased half a year to 10.5 years in 2021 from 10.0 in 2017.

More than a third of teachers (34.6%) across the state have five or fewer years of experience, with similar percentages across the three-county area. This is more or less the same as the 2017 share of 35.8%. Among Houston’s three-county region, students in Harris County are more likely to be educated by new teachers than those in Fort Bend or Montgomery counties. Given the size of Harris County, this pushes the overall average for the three-county region above that of the state.

Research also shows that Black and Latino students are most likely to be in classrooms with teachers who are in their first year of teaching or their first five years of teaching (known as “novice teachers”). The Education Trust finds that about 30% of Black students¹⁸ and 30% of Latino¹⁹ students in Texas attend schools with high percentages (> 20%) of novice teachers.

Teacher Demographics

Students are also less likely to be taught by teachers of color. This is important because being taught by a diverse teacher workforce has benefits for all students, not just those of color, but the benefits tend to be more pronounced for students of color. Students who are taught by a diverse workforce show better academic outcomes, lower suspension rates, and higher graduation rates.²⁰

Compared to the racial/ethnic makeup of the student body, the teacher workforce in the Texas public school system is far less diverse. While the vast majority of teachers in Texas are white, diversity is slowly increasing. Between the 2012-13 and the 2020-21 school years, the percentage of white teachers declined from 63% to 57%, while the share of Hispanic teachers increased by 3.5 percentage points to 28%, and the share of Black teachers increased less than two points to 11% in 2020-21.

The teacher workforce in Fort Bend and Harris counties is much more diverse than in Montgomery County and the state. Mirroring larger trends in Greater Houston’s diversity, Harris County’s teacher workforce was the most diverse in the 2020-21 school year, with 47% of teachers being white and about 24% of teachers being Black or Hispanic. Throughout the three-county area, the percentage of Black teachers is twice the 11% state average.

Supporting Teachers

In order for teachers to gain the experience to become more effective, they need support to remain in the profession. Over the past few years, teacher shortages have been a growing concern as educators leave the profession.²¹ National estimates prior to the pandemic show that between 19% and 30% of new teachers leave the profession within the first five years.²² Attrition rates in urban-area and high-poverty schools are higher than average.²³

Teacher turnover rates can provide an indication of the challenges school districts face to replace teachers who may have left the profession or gone to another school district or private schools. The teacher turnover rate has improved since 2017 across the state and in the region. The three-county area has about the same turnover rate as the state at 14%, an improvement from 2017. In the Houston region, turnover rates are highest in Harris County.

Many reasons have been given for this trend,²⁴ including the teacher “pay penalty” which shows that “public school teachers earn 20% less in weekly wages than nonteacher college graduates.” Other research shows the gap widens as teachers remain in the profession.²⁵

The Texas Education Agency determines minimum salary schedules for public school teachers statewide, ranging from $33,660 for first-year teachers to $54,540 for teachers with 20 or more years of experience. After factoring in education and experience, Texas public school teachers earned 21.9% less in weekly wages than similar college graduates in 2019; the national average is 19.2%

Controlling for inflation, Texas public school teacher salaries have increased 3.3% from 2011-12 to 2020-21. However, in 2020-21 the average salary of a public school teacher was $57,641 in Texas and continues to lag the national average of $65,090.

Within Houston’s three-county area, the average base salary is about 5.6% higher than the state average. Fort Bend County offered the region’s highest average base pay during the 2020-21 school year at $61,845 per year. Harris and Montgomery counties paid slightly less at $60,675 and $60,855 per year, respectively, still higher than the state average.

Stress is also a contributing factor teachers cite for leaving the profession.²⁶ A 2013 Gallup poll found that teachers report having some of the highest levels of stress of any profession in the U.S. One of the main factors for beginning teachers to leave within the first year is lack of adequate support from school administration, including training.²⁷ In fact, new teachers who receive little preparation and training are two and a half times more likely to leave after one year.²⁸ Larger class sizes also affect teacher stress.

The ratio of students to teachers in Houston’s three-county area is about one student higher than the state ratio, according to the TEA. The National Center for Education Statistics shows the national average of 16.0 in fall 2018 (the most recent available),at which point the ratio in Texas was 15.1. Within the three-county area, student-teacher ratios vary among school districts. In Montgomery County, Willis ISD has the highest student-teacher ratio at 17.7, while Magnolia ISD has the lowest at 15.0. In Harris County, the lowest student-teacher ratio is in Alief ISD at 12.7 and the highest in Houston ISD at 17.5. In Fort Bend County, the student-teacher ratio is higher in Lamar CISD at 15.8 compared to Stafford ISD at 14.1.

Of course, COVID in Houston added and exacerbated challenges for teachers, who reported higher job-related stress and depression levels than the general public, as they faced the difficult task of teaching both in-person and online learning coupled with long hours and concern for their own health as well as their family’s and students’ health. The Texas Education Agency hopes to curb teacher turnover through HB3’s teacher compensation plan and “pandemic bonuses.” However, teachers say that without other considerations, such as reduced administrative burdens and smaller class sizes, high rates of teacher turnover will continue.

Continue reading about education in Houston on our educational attainment, academic outcomes and post-secondary education pages

Helpful Articles by Understanding Houston:

• Ending the Inertia of Student Mobility in Houston
• COVID-19’s Ongoing Effect on Students in Greater Houston
• Caring for Teachers is Caring for Students
• The Costliest Problem We Know How to Fix
• Using Science and Evidence To Drive Investments in Early Childhood

Academic Outcomes

How well students perform throughout elementary, middle and high school has profound effects on other important areas of their lives

Academic outcomes for students in Houston’s three-county region have suffered since the pandemic, and they weren’t that great to begin with. Students of color and from low-income households have experienced the greatest disparities and declines.

The data

Learning loss during the COVID-19 pandemic

Quantifying and understanding the amount of learning students lost during the COVID-19 pandemic is a complex undertaking and cannot be measured by performance on standardized testing alone — regardless of whether a student attended school in-person or remotely.

Not only have students been navigating the risk of infection and illness, but also they have faced evictions, household job and income losses, potential loss in healthcare, increased food insecurity, and the ultimate loss — deaths of parents, grandparents, caretakers and other loved ones. All of this has significantly impacted children’s mental health, which most certainly affects their ability to learn.

Early indicators make clear the pandemic disrupted students’ learning, and while billions of dollars in federal aid are currently being spent to accelerate gains and close gaps, the consequences of COVID-19 on education are likely to continue for many years. One study found that this educational disruption “could result in a loss of between 0.3 and 1.1 years of schooling adjusted for quality.”⁴ In Texas, the TEA warned the learning loss could reduce potential earnings for Texas students and cost the Texas economy an estimated $2 trillion. In addition to the overall loss, many educators warn of the “K-shaped recovery” where some students, particularly marginalized students, don’t recover as quickly and gaps in outcomes persist or increase over time.

Finally, it must be recognized that while the pandemic worsened many educational inequalities, it did not create them. Addressing the root-causes of educational inequalities will necessitate long-term and sustained investments in neighborhoods and communities around the Houston region over many decades to eliminate the systemic inequities that have become entrenched.

STAAR third-grade reading scores dip five points after pandemic

Third grade has been identified as important to reading literacy because it is the final year children are learning to read, after which they are “reading to learn.” Proficiency in third grade reading exams correlates with success in future academic outcomes,⁵ including success in higher-level math coursework,⁶ eighth-grade reading level and college enrollment.⁷ Moreover, research has shown that third-grade students who do not read proficiently are four times more likely to not graduate from high school on time than those who read proficiently.⁸ Analysis from the TEA found that among third-graders who did not meet grade-level-standards in reading, only 5% caught up within two years.

The State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) testing program is based on curriculum standards in grades 3 through 8 (such as reading, writing, mathematics) and in core subjects typically taken in high school (such as history, science, social studies). Because of disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Texas canceled STAAR tests in Spring 2020. TEA made the test optional in 2021 for students who were learning remotely—76% of whom still participated. Overall, 88% of students across the state participated in STAAR in 2021 compared to 99% in 2019. Given these anomalies, the 2021 data should be interpreted with caution.

Evidence of the pandemic’s disruption to student learning is indicated in the percentage of students who met or exceeded expectations on the third-grade STAAR reading test. From spring 2019 to spring 2021, the percentage of third-graders in Texas who met or exceeded expectations declined by 5.3 points; in the three-county region success rates fell by about five points. Montgomery County saw the smallest decline (1.5 points) in those meeting grade-level standards, while Harris County saw the biggest drop (5.9 points).

Outcomes disaggregated by various demographic and school program characteristics show that almost all groups saw a decline in the share of students who met standards in 2021 compared to 2019. Asian-American, Hispanic, and economically-disadvantaged students saw the biggest declines, ranging between 7.5 and 8.4 percentage points. 

STAAR eighth-grade math and algebra scores take a big hit

Proficiency in eighth-grade math is an important measure to assess student readiness for high school and has been linked to future academic success in higher-level math, which has consequences for college readiness and enrollment.⁹

Eighth-graders who are not enrolled in algebra (roughly two-thirds of eighth-graders¹⁰) take the eighth-grade math STAAR test, while eighth-graders who are enrolled in algebra take the End-of-Course (EOC) exam to assess proficiency.

About one-third of eighth-graders not enrolled in algebra in Texas (34.7%) met grade-level standards in math in 2021. This is 20.2 points lower than in 2019. The percentage of students who met standards fell 24 points in Fort Bend, 20 points in Harris and 14 points in Montgomery County the first full academic year of the pandemic. 

In Houston’s three-county area, all demographic groups saw large drops in the percentage of eighth-graders who met grade level standards in math. Female, Black, Hispanic, and economically-disadvantaged students all saw a decline of 22 percentage points.

Algebra is typically introduced in ninth grade and is an indicator of future academic success.¹¹ However, students who take algebra in eighth grade are more likely to attend and complete college.¹² About one-third of eighth-graders in Texas enroll in algebra, which is roughly 10 percentage points higher than the rate in 2014, according to the Texas Tribune.¹³ Results for students who took algebra in 2021 are below. These results include anyone who took the Algebra End-of-Course (EOC) in eighth or ninth grade.

About 44.6% of students in Houston’s three-county region who took Algebra EOC exams in 2021 met or exceeded state standards — a 16.6 percentage-point decline from 2019. A larger share of students in the Houston area have met algebra standards than the Texas average. Prior to the pandemic, students in Fort Bend County had the highest success rates in the region, but in 2021, students from Montgomery County out-performed.

Each student group who took the Algebra EOC met or exceeded standards at a higher rate than their peers within the same county who took the eighth-grade math STAAR. This is true at every level of geography, except Montgomery County, where students who took the Algebra EOC met state standards at lower rates than their counterparts who took eighth-grade math STAAR exams. This variance is likely because students who take algebra are further along in their academic learning, either because they are in ninth grade, or because they are ready for higher-level mathematics.

High school graduation rates in the region tick up as they decline in the state overall

Graduating from high school in four years is correlated with many positive future educational and life outcomes, as a diploma is a minimum requirement for most well-paying jobs and higher education. People with high school diplomas are less likely to rely on public assistance and interact with the criminal legal system, and are more likely to pursue higher education and have higher earnings.¹⁴

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the graduation rate for the Class of 2019 averaged 86% for the nation and 90% for Texas, placing the state eighth among 50 states and the District of Columbia. The TEA reported the graduation rate for the Class of 2020 remained unchanged from the previous year at 90%.¹⁵

The high school graduation rate among the Class of 2020 in Houston’s three-county region was nearly 90%. The gap between the state’s and the region’s graduation rates has narrowed since 2011, when the three-county region’s graduation rate was 6.2 percentage points below the state overall. Harris County has had consistently lower graduation rates than the state as well as Fort Bend and Montgomery counties, though that gap has narrowed. Harris County’s graduation rate increased to 88.4% in 2020 from 83.8% in 2011; Fort Bend and Montgomery counties also increased their rates over the last decade, but with smaller gains relative to Harris County.

As with most educational outcomes, high school graduation rates vary by demographic characteristics and program. This is partly because of discriminatory practices that have existed since the nation’s founding (such as redlining), exacerbated by present-day disparities (i.e., poverty, disinvestment in public schools).

Among the Class of 2020 within their respective counties, men had slightly lower graduation rates than women; economically-disadvantaged students had lower graduation rates than their more economically secure peers; and students with disabilities or who were learning English had the lowest graduation rates.

High school dropout rates in the Houston area vary by county

Given the importance of high school graduation for later educational and life outcomes, it is unsurprising that dropping out of high school has consistently been linked with negative life outcomes. Students who leave high school without a diploma are more likely to be unemployed, to earn less than those who graduate, to be on public assistance, and to become involved in the criminal legal system.¹⁶ On average, a person who drops out of high school can expect to earn about $330,000 less over their lifetime than someone with a high school diploma only.¹⁷

Studies suggest that dropping out of school is the outcome of a dynamic and cumulative process of disengagement. Common reasons include missing too many school days, failing too many classes, not being engaged in school, and having family obligations. The key to reducing the dropout rate is to pay attention to all signs of disengagement and intervene at an early stage.^18,19

The high school drop-out rate in Texas has hovered around 5% over the past decade. Dropout rates are consistently highest in Harris County, though they have improved to 7.3% in 2020 from 8.7% in 2011. Dropout rates in Fort Bend and Montgomery counties are relatively similar, about 3%. Nationally, the high school dropout rate has declined from 8.3% in 2010 to 5.1% in 2019, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

High schools in the three-county region are less likely to graduate Black and Latino students, which is why we see higher dropout rates among Black and Latino students than their white peers. This is partly because these students are five times more likely to attend a high-poverty school than white students,²⁰ resulting in unequal educational experiences.²¹

Among the Class of 2020, men dropped out at slightly higher rates than women; students classified as economically-disadvantaged dropped out at higher rates than their higher-income peers; and students with disabilities or who were English language learners had the highest dropout rates. 

Post-secondary Education

The continued shift to a knowledge-based economy means the best opportunities for job prospects and upward mobility will require education and training beyond high school

Rates of college readiness and enrollment in the region are stagnant or in decline, and not enough Houston-area students earn post-secondary credentials after high school. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have only exacerbated challenges in higher education, particularly among students who have been historically underrepresented, such as Black, Indigenous, and other people who have been historically marginalized.

The data

Before getting into the data about readiness, enrollment and completion, it is helpful to clarify exactly what is post-secondary education. In the simplest terms, any education or training that goes beyond traditional high school coursework is considered post-secondary education. Common post-secondary options include four-year universities, two-year community colleges, trade schools, and apprenticeships.

College readiness rates in the Houston region ticked up … and then back down

College readiness/preparedness refers to the cumulative knowledge and skills a high school graduate is expected to have upon entering higher education. It is commonly measured by GPA, participation in advanced coursework such as Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB), as well as performance on state-standardized tests or college entrance exams such as the SAT or ACT.

However, many freshmen who enroll at public Texas colleges and universities are placed into developmental (also known as remedial or pre-college) courses, a determination based on these and other test results. These courses do not typically earn college credit toward degrees but are usually required before students can begin college-level coursework. 

National data show this obstacle is shared by more than a third of students nationwide.¹ Students who are required to spend one to two years in developmental education before beginning college-credit-level coursework are less likely to graduate with a degree or certificate, and if they do, take significantly longer.² Other studies show that when colleges consider multiple measures (such as GPA, time between high school and college, or the number of courses on the subject a student has taken) to determine college readiness, students who would have been originally placed in developmental education but take college-level coursework immediately (or simultaneously), their academic outcomes are better than if they only enrolled in developmental coursework, which calls into question the need for developmental education.³ 

The Texas Education Agency offers a composite measure of College-Ready graduates that reflects the percentage of high school graduates who have met at least one of five criteria: (1) meeting the college-ready criteria on the Texas Success Initiative (TSI) Assessment (ELA/reading and math), SAT, ACT, or by successfully completing and earning credit for a college prep course; (2) earning a minimum of dual course credit hours; (3) passing at least one AP or IB exam; (4) earning an associate’s degree while in high school; or (5) earning OnRamp course credits.

The share of high school graduates in Texas classified as college-ready by these criteria has ticked up over the last three years. The state average increased from 50.0% in 2017-18 to 53.4% in 2019-20.

In 2019-20, Fort Bend County had the highest share of high school graduates in the region who were designated as college-ready at 56.7%, though this rate has declined for two consecutive years from 60.4% in 2017-18. The share of high school graduates who were classified as college-ready in Harris County ticked up between 2017-18 and 2018-19 but then dipped to 51.4% in 2019-20 — essentially unchanged over the three years. The share of college-ready high school graduates in Montgomery County was essentially flat from between 2017-18 and 2018-19 but then dipped to 54.3% in 2019-20. 

SAT/ACT

For decades, the SAT (founded in 1926 and formerly known as the Scholastic Assessment Test) and the ACT (founded in 1959 and formerly known as American College Testing) have been used by four-year colleges and universities to inform admissions and scholarship decisions. However, in recent years, these tests have been less emphasized amid academic and legal claims that they are unfair to low-income, Black, Latino, and other students of color. In Texas, the COVID-19 pandemic affected the availability of test-taking opportunities to such a degree that many universities adopted “test-optional” policies for 2021 and 2022, with some extending the policy into 2023. While their popularity in admissions decisions may be in decline, these tests continue to be used to evaluate the level of academic preparedness of students.

More than 400 school districts across the state participate in SAT School Day — when students can take the SAT on their high school campus during the school day, rather than on the weekend, which is typical — at least once in the last five years. TEA has a contract through 2024-25 with the College Board, which administers the test, to negotiate a statewide rate for each exam at a discount.

Texans are much more likely to take the SAT than the ACT. According to the College Board, nearly 225,700 graduates from Texas public and private high schools in 2020-21 took the SAT compared to 89,000 who took the ACT. Texas ranks 10th nationwide for SAT participation rate (59%) but 29th for ACT participation rate (23%).

Regionally, the highest participation rate among graduates in 2019-20 (85.7%) was in Harris County, while the highest percentage of examinees who were at or above criterion⁴ was in Fort Bend County (51.3%). Between 2017-18 and 2018-19, the percentage of graduates who took either the SAT or ACT increased the most in Montgomery County (from 63.7% to 70.7%, respectively). The share of graduates who scored at or above criterion in 2019-20 was lower than that in 2017-18 in Harris and Montgomery counties.

Participation rates vary considerably by gender, racial group and socioeconomic status. The combined SAT and ACT participation rate among public high school graduates in Texas in 2019-20 was 77% — the highest in the past decade, according to the Texas Education Agency (TEA).

While SAT/ACT participation rates in Texas public schools were above 70% for most demographic groups, the share of test takers who achieved at or above criterion greatly varied by group. As with most racial/ethnic disparities in education, this is partly because of discriminatory practices that have existed since our nation’s founding (such as redlining and segregation), exacerbated by present-day imbalances (i.e., poverty, disinvestment in public schools).

Texas Success Initiative (TSI) Assessment

All students who enroll in public colleges and universities in Texas for the first time must take the Texas Success Initiative (TSI) Assessment unless they scored above a certain threshold on the ACT, SAT, or STAAR End-of-Course (EOC) exams; have military experience; are transferring from another higher education institution; or are enrolling in a certificate program that can be completed in less than a year.

Students who take the TSI Assessment must meet minimum standards in the area of mathematics, writing and reading, which indicate they are prepared for freshman-level college coursework. Students who do not meet the benchmark on the TSI Assessment must work with an academic advisor and develop a plan to become classified as “college ready.”

About 61.5% of Texas high school graduates in 2018-19 who took the TSI Assessment met or exceeded the TSI college-ready criteria in all areas, according to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB). 

Success rates in the three-county region on the TSI Assessment parallel that in Texas overall. About 65.0% of graduates in the region met or exceeded minimum standards on the TSI Assessment in 2018-19. Pass-rates are highest in Fort Bend County (72.6%) and lowest in Harris County (63.1%)

Significant disparities can be found in the TSI Assessment success rates across race/ethnicity — ranging about 40 percentage points — and little has been done to close the gap over the past few years. This trend, sometimes referred to as the achievement gap, is actually an opportunity or access gap; it is is primarily an extension of the extreme pre-existing differences in the delivery of pre-K through 12th grade education and its resulting disparities in academic outcomes.

College enrollment rates directly from Texas high schools have not grown in recent years

College enrollment in the U.S. has been in slight decline over the last decade, even prior to the pandemic. About 1% fewer students enrolled each fall between 2011 and 2019, resulting in a 10% decline in the number of students enrolled in all U.S. colleges, according to estimates from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.⁵ COVID-19 only accelerated that downward trend. Fall enrollment fell by 2.5%, or 461,000 students, between 2019 and 2020, and then declined 2.7% (476,000) in 2021. The result is a 14.3% decline in enrollment in higher education since 2011 — a loss of nearly 3 million students.

For public colleges and universities in Texas, the most recent data available at publication is for graduates in 2018-19. However, the downward trends are here as well. Between fall 2013 and 2019, the percentage of high school graduates enrolled in Texas public higher education institutions each year has declined from 50.2% to 47.1%, respectively. Because students who go out-of-state or attend private universities are not trackable in this data set, this figure tells only part of the full college-going story. THECB estimates that about half of high school graduates are not tracked or identified in Texas’ public higher education system, suggesting they do not enroll, enroll out-of-state, or attend a private institution.

Between 2013 and 2019, the percentage of high school graduates in Texas who enrolled in Texas public four-year universities remained relatively flat at around 20%, while the percentage of those enrolled in Texas two-year colleges dropped from 30.0% to 26.5%.

In Houston’s three-county region, nearly 72,700 public high school students graduated in 2018-19, and 45% continued on to a Texas public higher education institution in the fall of 2019. About 56% of public school high school graduates in Fort Bend, 44% in Harris, and 43% in Montgomery County enrolled in a public 2-year college or public 4-year university in Texas immediately after high school graduation. College enrollment rates in 2019 at both types of higher education institutions were lower from high schools located in Harris and Montgomery counties compared to Texas overall.

College enrollment by race/ethnicity is available only at the state level. Texas high school graduates who identify as Asian American enroll in the state’s public four-year universities at the highest rate (43.6%) and in two-year colleges at the lowest rate (19.6%) compared to other racial/ethnic groups. Hispanic students enroll in two-year colleges at the highest rate and enroll in four-year universities at the lowest rate followed by Black high school graduates.

Note: Educational outcomes vary significantly within the “Asian” category as the term includes a group of people who descend from about 50 different countries with distinct political and immigration histories. For example, according to a 2021 report from the Pew Research Center, 75% of Indian Americans have a bachelor’s degree, while only 16% of Laotians and 15% of Bhutanese do.

The share of Texas high school graduates who applied to in-state public four-year universities the fall semester immediately following high school graduation has remained relatively flat over the last few years. Between 2013 and 2017, the application rate steadily increased a little more than two percentage points, after which it declined slightly to 34.4% in fall 2019.

Similarly, the college admission rate for this population ticked up in 2019 to 30.2% from 28.5% in 2013 . However, the percentage of college applicants who were accepted to a four-year in-state public university but did not enroll also increased from 8.5% to 10.3% during the same time period. Several factors contribute to a high school graduate’s decision to not enroll in a higher education program to which they have been accepted. Students may opt to attend a different higher education institution such as community college, a private university, or somewhere out of state, or to not enroll entirely — a phenomenon known as “summer melt.” Research shows that access to financial aid is among the largest factors that contribute to “summer melt,” and that targeting interventions for students who come from low-income backgrounds or racial/ethnic groups that have been historically underrepresented and under-supported in higher education could have the most significant impact.^6,7,8 

Low graduation rates from colleges in Texas creates wide-ranging costs for the region

Completing college with a degree or certificate is important for both individuals pursuing higher education and the region at-large. Students who finish college are more likely to work in jobs that earn adequate wages and provide benefits, and actively contribute to their communities civically.⁹ Moreover, when students leave college without completing a degree, they are saddled with the debt that most students accumulate without the wage premium benefit that higher education degrees typically provide. This double-negative situation where costs increase without improvement in earnings leads to a higher likelihood of defaulting on student loans, which jeopardizes future earnings, job and housing prospects; damages credit history and limits the ability to borrow money in the future; and hinders overall economic mobility and prosperity.¹⁰

Nationally, 45% of students who enroll full-time in a four-year university for the first-time graduate within four years and about 63% graduate in six years (150% of normal time), though graduation rates at private nonprofit universities tend to be higher than at public universities. At two-year colleges, 33% of similar degree-seeking students finish with a credential within 150% of normal time, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

The following data shows the number of high school students who received a degree or credential from a public Texas four- or two-year college within eight years of their high school graduation. These data should be interpreted differently from the aforementioned national graduation rates: The national graduation rate is representative of the overall number of students who enroll in college whereas the Texas-related data below is representative of the number of graduating public high school students. It is for this reason the Texas “completion” rates are significantly lower than the national rates and should not be compared.

About 19% of students who graduated from a Texas public high school in 2013 (the most recent year for which there is complete data) received a degree from a public in-state four-year university within eight years of their high school graduation. Nearly 9% of high school grads completed their degree within four years or fewer (normal time). An additional 6% took five years, and 3% more took six years (150% of normal time) to finish a “four-year” degree.

About 10% of students who graduated from a Texas public high school in 2013 (the most recent year for which there is complete data) received a degree or certificate from a public in-state two-year college within eight years. About 2% of high school grads completed in fewer than two years (normal time) after high school graduation and an additional 4% completed a credential after three and four years (150%-200% of normal time). The traditional mission of community colleges is different from four-year universities as students typically hope to transfer from a two-year college to a four-year university, and they may or may not receive a credential on that path.

Learn about student mobility and its effect on educational attainment.

Too few eighth graders earn a college credential by the time they turn 25

Tracking the educational progress of eighth-graders who attend Texas public schools shows that a small share ultimately received a college credential from a Texas higher education institution within six years of their projected high school graduation date, or by the time they are 25 years old.

Among Texas students who started eighth grade in 2008, nearly 80% graduated from high school, about 50% enrolled in a university or college in Texas, and less than a quarter graduated with a post-secondary degree.

What about the progress of Houston-area public school students going to college in Texas? Outcomes in Houston’s three-county region closely mirror that in the state. Nearly 69,800 eighth-graders were enrolled in Houston’s three-county region in 2008-09: about 7,400 in Fort Bend; 55,900 in Harris; and 6,400 in Montgomery.

Nearly 78% of Houston-area eighth-graders graduated from high school, 53% enrolled in higher education within the state, and 23% received a post-secondary credential. Students who live in Fort Bend County have had better outcomes than those in Harris or Montgomery counties. While students in Fort Bend County public schools have only a slightly higher high school graduation rate than the state average, they graduate from college at nine percentage points higher than the state rate (32% compared to 23%). Outcomes for students in Harris County, the most populous county in the state, are the lowest in the region.

Texas institutions award more degrees and certificates

To address this challenge of college completion, the second goal of 60x30TX is for the state to graduate 550,000 students annually from a higher education institution in Texas by 2030. THECB has set different benchmarks for different regions of the state. Since 60x30TX started in 2015, there has been a 2.3% annual increase in the number of Certificate, Associate, Bachelor’s, and Master’s (CABMs) degrees completed at all four- and two-year colleges in Texas in the public, independent and career sectors. While this represents progress, the number of CABMs must increase by 5.3% each year over the next decade to meet the stated goal by 2030.

Texas institutions of higher education in the public, private and career sectors collectively awarded a total of 348,394 degrees and certificates in 2020 — a 12% increase from 2015. More than 40% were bachelor’s degrees and 28% were associate degrees. Between 2015 and 2020, the number of certificates declined 6%, associate degrees increased 21%, bachelor’s degrees rose 16%, and master’s degrees grew 8%. THECB found that more than a third (36.7%) of the degrees and certificates awarded in 2020 went to undergraduates from economically-disadvantaged households.

Too few high school graduates are classified as prepared for a career or the military

Beyond the focus of college-ready graduates, the TEA also measures College, Career, or Military Readiness (CCMR). In 2019 Texas House Bill 3 established a CCMR outcomes bonus, which provides extra education funding to districts to offer students greater access to career opportunities, more advanced career and technical education (CTE) courses and ultimately further the 60x30TX goal that every child is prepared for success in college, career or the military. A graduate is considered CCMR if they meet at least one of eleven criteria, including one of the five college-ready criteria or one of the six career or military readiness criteria.

Of the 360,000 Texas public high school graduates in 2019-20, 227,000 (or 63.1%) demonstrated college, career, or military readiness. That was a decline of 10 percentage points from the year before.

The share of graduates classified as CCMR in each county of the region and the state ticked up between 2017-18 and 2018-19 but declined the following year in 2019-20, with the result being lower than the rates in 2017-18. About 63% of high school graduates in the three-county region in 2019-20 were deemed CCMR compared to 73% the year before. This substantial decline results in a slightly lower rate than 2017-18.

Read about foundational academic readiness in early childhood education in Texas.

Career or Military Ready

While most post-secondary outcomes focus on higher education (“college ready”), Texas high schools can help students achieve alternative paths to employment. In 2019, Texas House Bill 3 took into account these alternatives when constructing the CCMR Outcomes Bonus awards.

According to the TEA, a high school graduate is considered career ready if they meet any of the college-ready criteria and earn an industry-based certification, or a level I or level II certificate by August 31 immediately following high school graduation. The graduate is considered military ready if they demonstrate a plan to enlist in the armed forces of the United States by December 31 immediately following high school graduation.

The share of high school graduates who were designated as career or military ready over the past three years had a similar trend to that of college readiness. Students made progress between 2017-18 and 2018-19, but then fell further back in 2019-20. Rates of career or military readiness in each of the greater Houston region’s three counties and the state overall in 2019-20 were far below where they were the previous year and even lower than they were in 2017-18 (except in Fort Bend, where they are about the same).

In 2019-20, the percentage of high school graduates classified as career or military ready was nearly 10 percentage points lower in Fort Bend County, 20 points lower in Harris County, 18 points lower in Montgomery County, and 22 points lower in Texas overall than they were the year before.

Career and Technical Education Programs

Public schools offer career and technical education (CTE) programs to help students in grades 6 through 12 develop skills, advance to postsecondary education at a technical college in Texas (or four-year institutions), and gain future employment opportunities.

The number of students in grades 6 through 12 who participated in CTE programs in Texas increased 36% to 1.5 million in 2019-20 from 1.1 million in 2012-13. In 2020, 50% of Texas students in grades 9-12 were enrolled in CTE programs. A slightly lower share of students were enrolled in CTE programs in Houston’s three-county region (46.8%) with Harris County having the highest percentage (49%).

Helpful Articles by Understanding Houston:

• Student Mobility: The Costliest Problem We Know How to Fix
• The Impact of COVID-19 on Education
• How Arts Education Helps Student Learning and Well-Being
• Houston is Big
• Is Houston Affordable?

Educational Attainment

An indicator correlated with many life outcomes, educational attainment profoundly affects individual and regional prosperity

Though the average Houstonian today has more education than they did 10 years ago, significant disparities across race/ethnicity persist.

The data

Low Educational Attainment Hurts Economic Prosperity

What does educational attainment mean? Educational attainment refers to the highest level of education an individual has completed. As the shift continues toward a knowledge-based economy, higher levels of educational attainment have become increasingly important to social mobility.¹⁰ This doesn’t mean a bachelor’s degree is always necessary to secure a “good job,” but some kind of education beyond high school (also called post-secondary education) — such as a certificate, credential, apprenticeship, or associate degree — is critical to meeting the demands of the current workforce and to unlock future individual opportunities. 

Workers with higher educational attainment tend to have the lowest unemployment rates, a trend seen during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, the national unemployment rate for workers with a bachelor’s degree or higher averaged 4.8% compared to 9.1% for those with a high school diploma only and 11.9% for those without a high school diploma. Not only are lower education levels associated with higher unemployment, they are also associated with lower annual earnings and lower lifetime average earnings.¹¹

Educational attainment rates in the region continue upward trend, but with significant racial/ethnic disparities

Educational attainment in Texas lags behind the nation. The state of Texas ranks second to last nationwide in the percentage of residents with at least a high school diploma at 84.6%, compared to the national average of 88.6%. Educational attainment levels in Harris County are lower than the state average, with 82.3% of adult residents having a high school diploma. Fort Bend and Montgomery counties fare better than the state and national averages at 90.7% and 88.2%, respectively.

Texas also ranks low in the percentage of the population over the age of 25 with bachelor’s degrees. Three out of 10 Texans (30.8%) have a bachelor’s degree or above — placing the state 28th among all states and the District of Columbia (D.C.) — compared to 33.1% at the national level. Nearly half of all adults in Fort Bend County have earned a bachelor’s degree (46.2%), the highest attainment rate in the three-county region. If Fort Bend County were a state, it would rank second in the nation — just behind D.C. (59.7%) and ahead of Massachusetts (45.0%). The proportion of adults without a high school diploma is highest in Harris County (17.7%). Adults in Montgomery County are most likely among the three counties to have some college education without a four-year degree (31.1%).

Educational attainment beyond high school has been increasing, however. Between 1990 and 2019, the percentage of adults without a high school diploma in Texas and the three-county area fell by 12.5 and 8.6 percentage points, respectively. Additionally, the share with bachelor’s degree or higher in the three-county area increased to 34.2% from 25.4%. 

Continue reading about education in Greater Houston on our Early Childhood Education page.

Educational attainment rates are unequal across race, ethnicity and gender

Because of a lengthy history of discriminatory practices since the nation’s founding, which have been exacerbated by present-day imbalances, levels of educational attainment in the United States vary greatly by race/ethnicity. The three-county region is no exception, and these disparities are the direct and intended result of harmful policies, compounded over decades and are not related to any group’s intrinsic talents or priorities.

Asian Americans — a group of people originating from about 50 different countries with distinct political and immigration histories — report the highest levels of education at the national, state, and regional levels. However, it is important to note that there is significant variation even within this large population. According to a 2021 report from the Pew Research Center, 75% of Indian Americans have a bachelor’s degree, while only 16% of Laotians and 15% of Bhutanese do. Indian Americans make up the largest Asian-American origin group in Texas, which contributes to the high levels of educational attainment for Asian Americans in the state.

More than 42% of Black adults in Fort Bend County have a bachelor’s degree or higher — 20 percentage points higher than the national average for Black adults (22.5%). However, that figure falls to 26% in Harris County, a rate on par with that of Texas overall, according to 2019 estimates.

Consistent with national trends, Hispanic/Latino adults in the Houston area report lower levels of educational attainment. About 26% of Hispanic residents in Fort Bend County, 36% in Harris County, and 35% in Montgomery County do not have a high school diploma. For comparison, the national average is 29.5%.

Because the general terms “Hispanic” or ”Latino” are used to describe a group of people who originate from a wide variety of Spanish-speaking or Latin American countries, and who understand their identity in different ways, the diversity within that broad group can often go unnoticed. There are differences in the levels of education between Latinos who are foreign-born versus native-born. For example, 12% of Hispanic immigrants in the three-county region have a bachelor’s degree or higher compared to 20% of Hispanic adults born in the U.S.¹² Research from the Center for Mexican American Studies (CMAS) at the University of Houston found that recent Latino immigrants are more likely to be better educated than those who arrived before them — 27% of immigrants who arrived in the last five years had a bachelor’s degree or higher. For those who have been here for at least 11 years, less than 10% had a degree.¹³

As educational attainment levels within each racial/ethnic group have increased in the three-county area, so have high school diploma attainment rates. Between 2000 and 2019, the percentage of residents in Houston’s three-county region with a high school diploma increased the most for Hispanics, rising to 65% from 44%. The percentage of Black residents who completed high school also increased to 92% from 78%.

In 2005, for the first time in the nation’s history, women were more likely than men to have an education beyond a high school diploma. By 2020, 65% of women had some post-secondary education compared to 61% of men.

The trend of women being more likely to pursue and attain higher education is also  occurring in Houston’s three-county region and in Texas overall.

In 2000, women lagged behind men in the share of the population with a post-secondary education. However, by 2010, the share of women in the three-county region with post-secondary education was slightly above that of men (57.7% compared to 56.2%). Women have continued their progress in postsecondary educational attainment, increasing five percentage points between 2010 and 2019 compared to a three-percentage-point increase among men.

Read about teachers, enrollment and education funding in Texas.

Helpful Articles by Understanding Houston:

• Driving Investment in Early Childhood Education
• Mental Health of Teachers and Its Effect on Education
• The Education Gap in Houston
• Ending the Inertia of Student Mobility in Houston
• Is Houston Affordable?